


for you i would steal time

by thekittenthatreads



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: But like...they in DENIAL son, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Friendship, Minor Angst, Minor Finn/Rose Tico, Mutual Pining, Oh you bet your ass there's gunna be some tropey goodness, Post-TLJ, Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn, Tropes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23176960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekittenthatreads/pseuds/thekittenthatreads
Summary: Rey and Poe, and moments in the year before Ep. IX.
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Rey, Poe Dameron/Rey
Comments: 18
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *nervously waves* hi there! long time reader and first time poster on AO3. 
> 
> i think it’s almost been a decade since i’ve written fic. like back when posting on livejournal and fan fiction was the thing. wowie. 
> 
> but i am such trash for this ship. i felt they had so much unfulfilled potential in canon and suddenly all these moments between them just kept coming to me and wouldn’t leave me alone. eventually i was helpless to do anything but write them down. and they really kept coming to me y’all, this was originally gunna be a one shot but 80+ pages later i came to realize if i was gunna share this it may be good to make it a chapter-ed thing. i really love the sense of community i’ve seen in the damerey fandom here and that encouraged me to post this! 
> 
> also, i’d like to blame Oscar Isaac for this. i see that man and i just make him do all these things in my head and i can’t be stopped.

“Hey...Rey?” 

Rey turns in the pilot seat of the Falcon and sees Poe Dameron at the entrance of the cockpit. He’s gripping the side of the wall with one hand, leaning in but not quite entering the space. There's a tentative smile on his face but he meets her eyes easily. 

“Poe, hi,” she says, a little perplexed. 

They’d only had the short meeting earlier, and while she liked the look of his face, open and friendly, they haven’t interacted again. After her moment with Leia she had spent a little time catching up with Finn and then Rey had quietly slipped away to the relative solitude of the cockpit. The press of people in the Falcon had felt a little stifling and she had needed to get some space. Seeing how easily Poe had been interacting with the rest of the Resistance on board, Rey didn’t get the sense that Poe had a problem being around crowds. She’s surprised to see him here. She’s more surprised to see, and feel, the flash of relief at finding a relatively private place make its way across his face and Force signature. She recognizes that feeling well. 

“Everything ok?” Rey questions, keeping her tone light. 

Poe’s eyes are wide as he looks around the cockpit with a reverence that immediately endears him to her. He catches her eye and a flush works its way up his neck. 

“Oh! Yeah, yeah, it’s just...I haven’t seen this ship since before I knew how to fly,” he offers sheepishly, his cheeks starting to color. 

The sight makes something pleasant start to squirm low in Rey’s belly, like being tickled but from the inside. She shakes that odd thought aside as Poe’s eyes return to roving the cockpit. 

“It’s kind of...legendary…y’know?” He breathes. Rey does know. What she doesn’t know is why she feels a responding flush creep up her chest at Poe's tone. 

“Oh. Yeah, I know.” Rey replies a beat late, thrown off by the strangeness of her body’s sudden reaction to him. 

“Can I maybe...join you in here? Poke around a bit?” Poe asks hesitantly. 

“...Poke around?” Rey repeats, incredulous. 

If he didn’t have such a hopeful expression, batting those big brown eyes innocently at her, Rey may have said no on the spot. But she’s never had someone level a look quite like that at her before, least of all a grown man who genuinely means well. Poe throws his hands up, the picture of harmlessness.

“I won’t actually poke anything.” His smile is charming and cajoling. 

But it reaches his eyes and makes them crinkle in a way that feels genuine and so Rey figures why not. All ploys aside, he’s a part of the Resistance and according to Finn he is an excellent pilot. And really, she likes the look of Poe’s face and it feels like it's allowed to be as simple as that. Rey gives a little shrug and then nods. She finds that she really likes the way his eyes light up at her. It’s been a while since someone has looked at her that way for something non Jedi or Force related, and it’s nice. She’s reminded of how Han looked at her when she told him she’d bypassed the compressor on his ship, or how Finn looked at her when she’d hugged him for coming back for her at Starkiller Base. 

Poe throws himself enthusiastically into the co-pilots seat and looks across the dashboard with a keen interest. When he turns and smiles at her, Rey realizes she’s been rather blatantly watching him. She turns to face the controls again, hoping her face isn’t getting as red as it feels. Poe makes an inquisitive sound so she sneaks a glance at him out of the corner of her eye and sees him duck under the console. Now free of his gaze, she openly observes him for another second before returning her attention to flying. 

Then Rey hears a small zap.

“Ow! Son of a nerfherder! What the hell did you do to this circuit board?!” Poe squawks suddenly and she jumps a little. 

“What do you mean what did I do to it!? Everything’s working fine!” Rey says sharply, all thoughts of him making her blush quickly leaving her mind. 

Poe’s head pops back up and he looks at her accusingly while sucking on the tip of a reddened finger. 

In this cockpit, in his leather jacket, with his suddenly grouchy expression, she’s reminded again rather forcefully of Han Solo and this time it stings a little. Especially after her recent failure with the man who killed him. 

“It’s a mess down there! Your wiring’s all exposed!!” Poe retorts as he ducks back under and appears to touch something again. A light flickers on the dash.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to touch anything!” Rey snaps. She feels defensive because Poe’s actually right about the wiring. She knows it’s a bit of a disaster under the console but she didn’t expect to have her work inspected, let alone criticized, by some flyboy who hasn’t even seen this ship since he was a kid. 

Her last patch up on the Falcon was done hastily, right before flying straight into battle on Crait, but she knows she did a decent enough job. It is her intention to go back under and clean it up when they next make port, but it worked for the time being.

“Anyway it was fine for flying into battle and saving all your lives wasn’t it?” Rey says defensively to the back of Poe’s head. 

“Still a karking flight hazard! You could fry Chewbacca’s fur right off,” he scoots in his seat to look up at her while still bent under the dash and she glares at him. 

“Oh, get out from under there before you hurt yourself again,” she says, annoyed by the accusatory way he’s looking at her.

“So you admit that it’s dangerous under here,” Poe crows as he sits back up and sucks his fingertip again. 

Rey tries to keep glaring at him, but honestly Poe looks really stupid trying to maintain an expression of superiority with his finger in his mouth. Her lips twitch upwards against her better judgement. He notices and his eyes crinkle. 

“I admit nothing.” Rey says primly and turns back to face the glow of the stars. 

She hears Poe let out a soft laugh and she likes the sound. It’s warm and it spills over her pleasantly. She wants to hear it again. 

“You know, you shouldn’t criticize the underside of a woman’s ship if she’s been nice enough to let you have a look,” she says in the same prim tone and it has the desired effect. 

Poe laughs again and when she sneaks a look at him, he’s grinning at her easily once more. 

“You got me there,” he allows. 

Rey ducks her head for a moment, hiding the smile growing on her face. 

Before Han she’d never really dealt with anyone who could be simultaneously combative and friendly with her. It’s always been one or the other, and on Jakku it was mostly the former. With Finn there is love, affection, admiration, gratitude and a genuine camaraderie forged in the bizarre circumstances of their meeting. But usually on Jakku either you were trying to pick a fight, kept to yourself, or were friendly as a ploy to get something you wanted. Rey spent years developing a hard outer shell to protect herself and she’s not used to letting harmless snark into the way she interacts with people. But she likes it. 

She sees the kink in Poe’s eyebrow as he glances her way and reaches out to gesture at a section of lights on the dash. There’s a playful challenge in his eyes. 

“So what exactly were you doing with your wild wire work then huh? ‘Cuz I’m a little concerned whether that’s supposed to be blinking like that.” 

It’s not, but she’s not going to let him know that. It’s nothing urgent she can’t fix later. Rey smirks and waves Poe's hand away.

“Your poking privileges have been revoked,” she says archly. 

Poe snorts and throws both his hands up in defeat.

“Aye aye, Captain,” he says with a hint of sarcasm. Rey feels an urge to smack him on the shoulder in jest, but she squashes it down. She doesn’t really know this man, even though it feels like she does, like she has known him for a while. Between BB-8 and Finn, Rey supposes that perhaps she’s been aware of Poe longer than she realizes. She settles for shooting him a light glare. Poe returns it with an innocent expression.

“If I help you fix it, will it up my chances of you ever letting me fly this thing?” He raises both brows and looks at her hopefully. 

“If you keep insulting my ship maintenance I’m not even gunna let you on the Falcon again, let alone fly it,” she replies. 

“I’m not insulting it!” Rey levels him with a dubious look.

“I’m not! I’m merely...questioning it. Slightly! You know, cuz of the wires sparking and the lights blinking,” Poe blinks at her innocently again, a charming smile playing across his lips. Rey rolls her eyes. She’s not charmed. She’s not. 

“Lotta questions over a ship you’ve never flown before...and may never fly,” she teases and Poe groans dramatically, throwing his head back against the seat. 

She can’t help but laugh and he turns towards her, childish reproach on his face. 

“That’s mean. You’re kinda mean.” Poe says, pouting. 

“Yes. Very, actually.” Rey returns his pout with a straight face. 

The pout remains for another few seconds before they both break, Rey smiling and Poe laughing a little to himself. 

“That’s ok, I kinda like it,” he offers, and there’s a mischievous spark in his eyes. 

Again Rey feels that small tug of some new emotion in her stomach, that flush returning to her face. Giving herself a little shake she returns her focus to piloting the ship. 

“Well...good,” she responds, a little delayed. She hears Poe huff another small laugh. 

“Good,” he echoes. 

Out of the corner of Rey's eye she sees Poe shoot her a glance and shake his head slightly as he smiles to himself. She feels her own mouth turn up in response. 

Unbidden, the thought comes into her head; that this is going to be fun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooof, i did NOT mean to take so long to update this but i got hit HARD with the corona blues. thankfully i am safe and secure and i hope you all are too. i had this chapter like 95% written already but that last 5% really fought me. i'm so attached to these characters and feel so nervy about posting fic for the first time in so long i got a little in my own way. but here it is! please enjoy!

The Resistance is still on the Falcon a few days later, drifting through space. The remains of their comms team are assisting Leia in reaching out to the galaxy for a place to recuperate, but otherwise there’s isn’t much to do but spend time together. The atmosphere is occasionally a little tense, but mostly everyone has settled in for the waiting game.

Poe finds his way into the cockpit with Rey more often than not, Chewie growling warningly at him from the co-pilots seat. In Poe’s defense, he does an admirable job of simply hanging back and observing, sometimes making comments and asking questions. He doesn’t poke any more things, even though it’s clear he wants to. He and Rey continue to fall into a comfortable patter of bickering and joking around and she graciously lets him observe her when she finally does rewire under the console.

In fact, they’re together so much Rey starts to get the sense that Poe may be avoiding spending too much time with the rest of the Resistance members on board the Falcon. They don’t particularly have the privacy to discuss it so she tucks the information away and let’s herself enjoy getting to know the man her best human, and droid, friend so adore.

It’s a good thing she’s developing a friendship with Poe, because Rey soon realizes that her best human friend is now someone she has to share, and quite a lot. It feels like an amazing gift, the friendship she has with Finn, and she’s so grateful to be around it again after the mess that had unfolded during their separation. Finn reminds her of the way she deserves to be treated and cared for, that she isn’t a nobody from nowhere that no one wanted, that she’s more than a vessel for the powers of the Force. After everything on Ahch-To and after, Rey needs that. But on a ship this cramped they don’t find too much time to spend together alone, though they do try.

Poe is obviously close with Finn and seems to count him as one of the few people he can interact with freely on board the Falcon. And Finn generally likes to stay by Rose’s side as she recovers. The fiesty mechanic wakes up a few hours into their escape from Crait. When Rey sees how Finn lights up when he gets to properly introduce them she knows that this woman has become important to him. Rey trusts Finn and his judgment, so she’s determined to get to know Rose too. It’s no surprise that they get along exceedingly well.

Rose is tough but friendly, optimistic, and clever. Rey takes great pleasure in discussing the inexplicable mechanics of the Falcon with her, and in her playful teasing of Finn. Rey’s never really had a close female friend, not since she was a lonely child on Jakku who didn’t know better than to be friendly to any and all strangers that crossed her path. She’d learned the hard way that on Jakku priority number one was survival, and friendship was very much an obstacle to that.

Rose says that in the Resistance, empathy, friendship, and love are the driving forces of the rebellion. That their connections to each other is how they will survive, and why they will win. Rey likes that a lot more.

Rose is still stuck on bed rest while she’s healing, and Rey sits at the foot of her bed. They’re in the middle of closely examining the broken halves of Luke’s lightsaber when a deck of cards smacks heavily onto Rose’s blanket covered lap. Both women look up to see Poe standing above them.

“Sabbac. We’re playing,” he states.

“Hi Poe!” Rose says brightly. Rey snorts and Poe narrows his eyes at her challengingly.

“We’re in the middle of something, Dameron.” Rey says in response to his look.

“Oh come on!” He whines as he collapses onto the floor by the head of Rose’s bed.

“I’m bored and _apparently_ telling Connix that was ‘ _being disruptive_.’” He says the last two words mockingly, rolling his eyes. “And hiya Rose, how ya feeling?”

Rose smiles and tells him she’s doing well, gently placing a broken saber piece back into her lap.

“You _are_ being disruptive.” Rey says blandly, fighting a smile while Rose giggles.

“You’re telling me, Chewie kicked him out of the cockpit for asking too many questions about hyperspace jumps.” Finn says as he joins them, pulling up a crate to sit by Rose’s feet. He grabs Rose’s ankle and squeezes, shooting her a smile. Rey leans across the bed to bump her shoulder against Finn’s in greeting and he bumps her back.

“ _Excuse me_ , I think I’m growing on the guy!” Poe says and Finn scoffs playfully.

“Yeah, ok buddy.”

“I am!” Poe protests.

“If you are it’s only because you might be just as neurotically obsessed with this ship as he is, flyboy.” Rey says, shaking her head in amusement at Poe’s petulance. It’s becoming increasingly clear that the pilot does not handle boredom very well.

“Hey now, you know I take that as the highest compliment Jedi girl.” Poe retorts, shooting her a dazzling grin.

Rey’s stomach swoops. She blinks. She feels a little like she just looked straight at the sun. Poe is...he’s a little...

She flushes, taking a sharp inhale through her suddenly parted lips. Poe’s expression shifts in a way she can’t describe, his eyes running over her face. She shakes her head and looks away, eyes landing on the broken lightsaber.

“I’m hardly a Jedi with this thing.” Rey gestures in frustration at the pieces in between her and Rose. Rose makes a sound of sympathy and pats Rey lightly on the hand.

“Don’t worry Rey, we’ll figure this out, the kyber crystal is still intact. We just need to get the right parts to build around it.” Rose says reassuringly and Rey nods slowly, her shoulders slumping. With Luke’s passing she’s been harboring a lot of guilt for the destruction of his saber, one of the only things she has left that ties her to him.

“Maybe once we’re finally settled on a base we can convince the General we need to go on a supply run for saber parts. What do you think Poe? Could we do that?” Finn says bracingly, rubbing Rey’s back and turning to Poe with hope in his eyes.

Poe is still watching Rey intently and he turns to face Finn at the sound of his name.

“Oh, uh... that’s not really my call guys,” he starts, rubbing the back of his neck. Rey hangs her head. “But,” Poe continues quickly, “we can’t have our resident Jedi without her lightsaber. I’m sure the General will sanction a mission for that.”

Rey looks up at Poe again and he smiles assuredly, his eyes warm. She can’t help but smile at him in return. They look at each other a moment longer before she starts to feel a little funny about it. There’s a squirming in her insides at the softness on his face. His very handsome face. Rey casts a look around the ship, trying to clear her head of these strange thoughts.

“Let me guess, we’ll need to take the Falcon and I’ll obviously need an experienced pilot with me,” she says, trying to inject some playful sarcasm into her tone.

Poe’s grin takes on a teasing curl. “Obviously,” he says, tipping his head at her.

“Someone who knows how to make sure we’re in contact with the Resistance on an encrypted channel the whole time?” Rey continues.

“Can’t have you getting intercepted by the First Order in our only ship,” Poe tries to say gravely, but there’s a twinkle in his eye. It eggs Rey on.

“Someone who’s familiar with our allies, who could get us the parts we need credit free, on behalf of the Resistance?”

“It’s not like we got a wealth of credits on our hands right now.”

Rey nods seriously. Waits a beat.

“Good thing I’ve got Chewie then,” she says blithely and Poe’s eyes widen a fraction. “I know he prefers to fly this thing without a couple dozen Resistance members on board,” she finishes, eyeing him cheekily.

“Maybe one of them in particular,” Finn says, piling on with a grin. Rose snorts, bringing a hand up to cover her smile. Poe’s mouth quirks.

“I have no idea who you mean, but I’m sure Chewie’d be happy to empty out this ship,” he replies with a lofty expression.

“Oh are you?” Rey drawls.

“The extra weight does get in the way of his ‘punching it,’” Poe responds sagely.

“That and the lack of seat-belts for everyone,” Rey says, recalling how the Wookie had scolded her and Poe for not wearing said seat-belts in the cockpit just a few hours ago.

“Safety first, that’s what Chewbacca’s always said,” Poe quips before he presses his lips together, clearly fighting a smile. That squirming is back in Rey’s stomach as she tilts her head and narrows her eyes at Poe.

“Is it?”

“Depends, how good is your Shyriiwook?”

Rey snorts and she hears Finn and Rose do the same. Poe looks very pleased with himself.

“You know,” his tone takes on a transparent attempt at casual, “I’m pretty sure there’s at least three seats with safety harnesses in the cockpit,” he waggles his eyebrows a bit, “maybe even four.”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” Rey rolls her eyes. Poe ignores it, and nods at her seriously.

“And we really can’t send off our only Jedi with no lightsaber _and_ no back up.”

“No back up aside from a seven foot tall Wookie who’s a war veteran, you mean.”

“Someone has to stay with the ship while you two get you the parts you need right? The Falcon’s way too recognizable to be left alone.”

“I suppose,” Rey allows, “any idea who might wanna join us on this salvaging mission just to babysit a ship?” she asks, like she doesn’t know.

“Oh I dunno,” Poe says innocently, “maybe someone’s who’s spent some time in the cockpit already?” He grins at her and she smiles back sweetly.

“You’re so right,” she agrees, before turning to Finn, “Finn, whaddya say?”

Finn, who had been watching their back and forth with amusement, rolls his eyes dramatically.

“Excellent idea Rey, he's clearly the best choice.” Rose says after a giggle. Poe makes an outraged sound not unlike a startled porg.

“ _I_ was thinking more like another pilot, you know, someone who could take over if one of you gets too tired to fly.”

Rey narrows her eyes at him again, but now she’s the one fighting a smile.

“Are you seriously using my need for a new lightsaber as a way to get a chance to fly the Falcon?”

Poe grabs at his chest dramatically.

“How dare you! My duty is to the Resistance! And it’s the Resistance’s duty to help you get you saber fixed! By any means necessary!”

“By means you mean you flying the Falcon.”

“If that’s what you need the Resistance to do for you, I’m not gunna...resist.” Poe says gravely but he pumps his eyebrows at his lame attempt at wordplay and Finn groans.

“Oh man, that was bad, like really bad,” he says.

Poe shrugs and smiles winningly as Rey breaks into laughter. When she manages to stop, Poe is looking at her with that warm look back in his eyes. The fluttering in her stomach returns full force. Rey feels strangely shy as she meets Poe’s gaze and smiles back.

“Nice try, flyboy,” she tries to say teasingly around the blush she feels starting on her cheeks. Poe’s smile gets softer for a second before he blinks and looks away.

“Come on then, Sabacc, loser has to convince Chewie he has to let me back in the cockpit,” he says brusquely, looking a bit flustered.

“Not likely my friend, not likely.” Finn says humorously, shaking his head and reaching for the deck of cards. Poe shrugs a little jerkily.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he mutters under his breath.

\---

Rey is fried.

It’s been seven days since Crait, since the Supremacy, and she hasn’t slept more than a few hours at a stretch since leaving Ahch-To. She can’t get to sleep without fear of being vulnerable to the Force Bond and whenever she finally passes out from exhaustion she jolts awake from nightmares of Kylo Ren or Snoke tearing through her brain. In her nightmares she sees Han die and Finn being cut down by that awful red saber, she feels Luke’s fear of her and sees the transports exploding in front of her eyes as she watches helplessly, and then she feels her brain being shredded through. She can’t shake the feeling of having been ripped into pieces when she manages to drag herself back into consciousness.

So Rey is exhausted, and when the Falcon gives an almighty lurch and drops unexpectedly out of hyperspace she almost bursts into tears. Chewie looks at her with alarm and offers to go check the motivator, because it’s clear she’s in no place to handle ship repair, and she nods at him gratefully. He pats her on the head roughly as he heads out. A few moments later she hears footsteps and then Poe’s voice sounds behind her.

“Hey Jedi girl, Chewie said you wanted another set of eyes up here while he’s fixing the hyperdrive?”

“I didn’t, and I don’t.” Rey grinds out. Usually she’d be a little nicer but she’s at the end of her rope. She feels raw and broken and she’s barely in the mood to speak let alone maintain any kind of conversation. Not with someone who makes her feel...whatever it is exactly Poe has been making her feel.

Squirmy. Flushed. Strange and excited and nervous. He keeps her on her toes and she doesn’t feel like she has enough of a grip on her sense of balance right now as it is.

“Okay...” Poe drawls. But he doesn’t leave.

“So you can go.” Rey says in a clipped tone. She keeps her eyes trained on the stars in front of her, tries to ignore how her hands shake at the controls.

“Uh yeah and defy Chewbacca? I don’t think so.” Poe retorts in the tone of their usual banter.

Instead of responding though, Rey ignores him and fiddles with dashboard, trying to prep the ship to jump back into lightspeed. Nothing happens. She lets out a strangled scream of frustration and smacks her fist onto the console so hard her teeth rattle. She cries out again, but this time in pain.

“Whoa, hey, what the hell Rey? Are you okay?” Poe asks, alarmed. He hurriedly steps further into the cockpit towards her.

“I’m fine,” Rey tries to say around the lump in her throat. Her eyes burn with unshed tears and she’s not sure if it’s from the pain in her fist, or the aching tiredness in her bones, but either way she doesn’t look at Poe.

“Rey,” Poe reproaches as he maneuvers into the co-pilots seat and reaches for her.

“I said I’m _fine_!” Rey almost shouts, turning to glare at him. Part of her hopes that he’ll leave immediately, her upbringing on Jakku reminding her that to show vulnerability is to show weakness, and that that’s dangerous. But another part of her, the part that’s crying out in exhaustion, just wants for someone to tell her that she’s going to be okay, that she’s allowed to feel safe now, that she can rest.

Somehow it feels like that’s the part that Poe sees as he eyes her with concern.

Maybe it’s that the longer she looks at him the less control she has over keeping the glare on her face. Her lip starts to tremble. The hand that he’d reached for her with had pulled back quickly when she’d shouted, but she sees him eye her fist where it still sits clenched on the console.

“That really didn’t sound ‘ _fine_ ’. Will you please let me check if you broke anything?”

Poe’s voice is gentle, but stern too, and it’s that that makes her nod her head jerkily. She’s still getting used to be around people who care so easily. The sternness is something she knows how to handle.

“Gimme your hand.” Poe commands softly.

Wordlessly Rey places her fist into the palm he holds out in front of her. When they touch she lets out a hiss because his skin is cool against her tender and heated flesh. Poe clucks under his breath as he gently turns her hand to inspect the area that came into contact with the console. The side of her fist is red and starting to swell a little.

“Can you open up your fist for me? Slowly?” Poe asks without taking his eyes off her hand.

Rey’s glad he’s not looking at her face because she’s pretty sure it’s crumpling a little. The cautious way he’s touching her is so foreign to her. There have been many times she’s been injured in the past and she’s pretty certain, from experience, that she hasn’t broken anything this time, but there’s never been someone around to check for her. Someone to care for her when she’s hurt.

Slowly uncurling her fist, Rey watches as Poe’s face takes on an expression of extreme focus. With care and caution, he starts to press the tips of his fingers into her hand, moving up and down her palm. He squeezes up her pinky with his thumb and index finger lightly.

“Any of this hurt?”

Rey shakes her head. Poe scoots forward to rest her forearm in one of his hands while he uses the other to slowly move her hand around in small circles. His brows are furrowed.

“This?”

“No,” Rey finally says quietly, still a little choked up.

Poe looks up at her, concern and kindness mixing on his face. It does nothing to lessen the lump in her throat. She can only look at him for so long. Again, Poe seems to sense this because he looks back down at her hand, and he seems satisfied with his assessment of her injury.

“Well I don’t think you broke or fractured anything,” he says lightly, “not for lack of trying,” he finishes as he looks back up at her with a small smile.

Rey knows he’s trying to lighten the mood and she’s torn between grateful and disoriented. She clears her throat and pulls her hand back from his grip slowly.

“Told you I was fine,” she mutters half-hardheartedly. Poe snorts a little.

“Can’t blame a guy for worrying,” he shrugs as he sits back. Rey doesn’t say anything but tries her best to give him a weak smile. There’s a crease between Poe's brows that doesn’t lessen as he looks at her.

“You got a hell of a punch Rey.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” Rey says ruefully, and the crease on Poe’s face only deepens.

“You sure you’re-“

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence because Rey cuts him off, “Poe, really, I- I’m _fine_.”

“I dunno Rey, I know 'fine' and you don’t seem _fine_ ,” Poe says skeptically. Rey bristles a little.

“I _am_ -“

“Don’t say fine again, the words’ lost all meaning at this point,” Poe warns and Rey huffs exasperatedly.

Her emotions feel all over the place. Poe gives her a once over and she wonders if he can tell how frayed she feels. She knows the bags under her eyes are particularly pronounced today, she’d seen them when she’d splashed water on her face in the fresher earlier. Poe’s eyes linger above her cheeks and she knows he’s cataloging them.

“Look if you don’t wanna talk about it it’s okay, but Chewie asked me to sit up here with you so I’d like to do what he says, is that alright?”

Rey crosses her arms. She feels her natural defensiveness rise up.

“I don’t have anything to talk about.”

Poe looks at her disbelievingly for a moment.

“Might make you feel better,” he raises a brow at her. She glares at him obstinately.

“Alright, alright, I can take a hint,” Poe says, resigned. “But I _am_ gunna sit here ‘til Chewie comes back, if you change your mind.”

“You just wanna stay on his good side so he’ll keep letting you in the cockpit,” Rey says a little snippily.

She doesn’t need a chaperone. But then she thinks of how she just tried to attack the ship with her fist and she reconsiders her ire. Poe gives her a crooked smile and turns to face the transparisteel in front of them.

“That’s not why I’m staying,” he says defensively. When she doesn’t say anything he glances her and she raises an eyebrow at him. Poe lets out a huff and shakes his head.

“Okay, so it’s not the _only_ reason,” he allows. He turns back to the stars outside and Rey watches as he swallows hard. He looks at her from the corner of his eye and sees she’s still facing him, and her silence prompts him to continue.

“Let’s just say I’m working on being better at following orders.”

Rey sits forward a little, intrigued despite her exhaustion. From what she can tell Poe seems fine with following orders from Leia, who’s really the only person on board who outranks him, aside from Chewie.

“Let’s say more,” Rey prompts. The sound of footsteps passing the cockpit distracts them both and when she turns back to face Poe she catches him releasing a clench of his jaw.

“Let’s not.” Poe says shortly.

“Might make you feel better,” Rey quips. Poe shoots her annoyed look.

“Oh, you got jokes now huh? How’s your hand?” he goads.

She raises a challenging brow at him. For a minute they just glare at each other, neither willing to give. All of the sudden the ship makes an odd screeching sound and Rey looks across the dash with a rush of despair.

“I’ll never forgive myself if I wrecked Han’s ship beyond repair,” she finds herself saying quietly. Poe’s face twists with sympathy.

“You really care about the Falcon a lot huh?”

“Before he…” Rey cuts herself off and looks down at her fingers. She takes a deep inhale and lets it go slowly.

“Han offered me a job, co-pilot. Before…everything happened.”

“Pretty sweet gig,” Poe says gently.

“I mean, he did say he wouldn’t be nice to me, or pay me much,” Rey says, feeling a small smile work its way onto her face. She really misses that man. Poe chuckles.

“Yeah that sounds about right.”

Rey laughs, but it’s a wet sound. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Poe reach out towards her and she looks back up at him.

“I’m sure he’d be glad to know you’re taking care of his ship now, you and Chewie,” Poe draws his hand back before it gets near her and she watches as it drops between them.

“I’m not so sure,” Rey admits, biting down on her lip and gesturing helplessly to the viewport, indicating how they are obviously not flying at lightspeed like they’re supposed to be. She curls her hands into fists again, despite the pain in the hand she’d smashed on the console.

“Hey,” Poe says softly, reaching out again and actually touching her arm this time, very briefly, “you did great ok? You’re doing great.”

Rey doesn’t know what to say, how to express that she’s thankful for his words, his presence, and his comfort, especially when she's being so combative. She’s so tired. She braces herself on the armrest of her seat, leans across the space, and kisses Poe’s cheek very quickly before falling back into the cradle of her chair. She doesn’t think about why she does it, only that she wanted to. Poe looks a little dumbstruck and if she wasn’t so tired she might have been embarrassed. Instead she laughs a little hysterically.

“Sorry, I just-“

“Don’t be sorry.” Poe responds quickly, looking her straight in the eye even as he blushes. Rey blinks, surprised.

“...ok,” she agrees slowly. There’s an awkward moment of silence between them. The sound of the ship reacting to whatever Chewie is doing is the only sound in the cockpit. Finally Poe speaks again.

“I knew you really liked me,” he says teasingly. Rey snorts.

“No you didn’t,” she replies as she turns to look out the transparisteel again, hiding a smile. She hears Poe mutter under his breath quietly.

“Yeah…no I didn’t.” She looks at him sharply.

“…you don’t really mean that do you?” Rey asks hesitantly, suddenly unsure. They do bicker quite a bit, but she had been certain it was mostly of the playful, friendly variety.

“Of course I do, you’re very mean to me,” Poe deadpans, but as he looks at her that, now familiar, twinkle is back in his eyes. Rey fights a smile and reaches over the console to shove his shoulder.

"Ow! See? Mean!" Poe cries. Laughing, Rey shoves him again.

“Hey, hands off the merchandise Jedi girl!” Poe protests, batting her away fruitlessly. Distantly, Rey is aware that this may be the most physical contact they’ve ever hand. She can feel how solid the muscle of his bicep is. She keeps shoving him, leaning out from her chair. Poe is laughing too.

“Alright, alright, I was kidding jeez!” Poe sputters. “You like me and I like you!” He goes a little more red in the face.

The ship gives another sudden lurch and finally bursts back into lightspeed. Rey stops shoving Poe and makes a sound of triumph and Poe's smile grows wide and full of teeth. They grin at each other for a beat before he ducks his head, rubbing the back of his neck, which has also gone red.

He’s being sweet and while his blush doesn’t make her feel embarrassed that she kissed him, Rey does start to feel a bit strange about it. Like she’s pleased and uncomfortable and confused all at once. She decides she’ll probably never want to kiss Poe again because this is a little weird. But there’s a drop in her stomach that feels a bit like disappointment when she thinks about not kissing him and that is...even more confusing.

Best not to think of it at all, Rey decides, and she shakes her head a little to dispel the thoughts swirling around in her brain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact, when i initially planned this chapter Rey and Poe were meant to handle the ship repair together but obviously that is not what ended up happening. it was one of those beautiful writer moments where it felt like the story and the characters were writing themselves. maybe that's only interesting to me, but i wanted to share that little bts tidbit! never fear though, these two dorks will will definitely have a moment squished into some crevice of the Falcon at some point.  
> please review if you feel so inclined, they make my day! and stay safe everyone <3

**Author's Note:**

> is it cheesy to have literal sparks in Rey and Poe's first real interaction? yes. yes it is.  
> do i regret doing it? no i do not.  
> will i continue to be this cheesy?  
> who can say?  
> ...  
> it's me. i can say.  
> and the answer is yes.
> 
> i hope you'll stick around for the ride! some chapters will be more than just one moment, and at this time I have about 20 of these moments mostly written or at least outlined. 
> 
> if you feel inclined please leave a comment! it’s been a long time since i’ve written fic and i’d love to hear from you!


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